Madness
by Ninazadzia
Summary: And then they were kissing. Daryl/Michonne.


**Madness**

By Ninazadzia

* * *

And then they were kissing.

Her katana clattered to the ground. Initial shock wove its way through her, and overtook every sensation in her body. This was the closest feeling she'd felt to being drunk in a long, long time. But this time, she was drunk off of Daryl Dixon, not booze. With that in mind, something in her brain awoke. _This is happening. This is real. _She pulled away, briefly, and looked him the eye.

He wore the same expression as her.

"Fuck it," he said.

And so he leaned back in. Their lips collided, this time with no surprise or spontaneity. Her shock became unadulterated longing, and she held onto that notion as she fell into him, kissing him deeper. He dropped his crossbow, and his hands wandered to her hips. He settled them there, and grasped her tightly, pulling her into him. She brought her hands to the back of his neck. As their bodies pressed into one another, one thought emerged from the noise in her head. _How long has it been?_ How long had it been since she'd last kissed someone—or wanted someone—like this? It must've been Mike, before the world went to shit. And, oh, he was different, _so _different from Daryl.

And then came the next thought—_how long has it been for _him?

Daryl didn't have a sweetheart in the Atlanta camp—she knew that much from Andrea. She knew that he'd been soft on Carol, but that nothing had happened. She knew him and Beth had run away together, but more out of necessity than anything else—besides, the girl was less than half his age. No, it didn't seem like Daryl had found any love in the zombie apocalypse.

He pushed her up against a tree. His kissing became more desperate. And, God, did she reciprocate. He hungrily moved her mouth against his, and she then understood that _this _had been a ridiculously long time coming. _How didn't I realize it before?_ she wondered.

Their conversations. Their comfort around one another. Their lighthearted jokes, and their more sentimental heart-to-hearts. And all of the tracking they did for the Governor, alone in the woods together.

She should've seen this from miles away. But she didn't. She'd refused to believe that after Mike she could ever feel for anyone again. And Daryl Dixon didn't fit her typical romantic prototype. She liked her men clean, proper, and educated. Daryl wasn't the kind of man she would've fallen for; he was someone she would've hooked up with at a bar, after a few too many beers. He was the kind of person she would've gossiped to her friends about, and talked about how surprisingly good (albeit rough) the sex was.

But Michonne knew that this wasn't the case. Because in spite of how rough they were kissing, and how it felt like every vein in her body was on fire, she knew, deep down, what this was.

It wasn't strictly physical, and he wasn't a drunken hookup.

This was real. This was who she wanted.

* * *

She'd found Beth first. Rick and Carl were a couple dozen yards away from her, scouring other parts of the woods in search of food. She'd heard some rustling in the bushes, and it was enough for her to unsheathe her Katana, and raise it high over her head. She'd stood still, on alert.

And then, Beth Greene emerged from the underbrush.

"Oh, thank God."

Beth ran forward, and Michonne wordlessly pulled her into a hug. She grasped the thin girl warmly, tightly, and refused to let go for a good minute. She looked dirty, and she looked skinnier than normal, but she was fine. She was alive.

"Are you with anyone?" Beth asked.

Michonne nodded. "Rick, Carl!" she called. "C'mere."

The Grimes wordlessly materialized. Carl's face broke into a wide grin as he ran forward, practically ramming Beth over in a fierce embrace. Rick just about did the same, holding her close. Michonne thought of when she'd found Rick and Carl in the house, and how she'd let the tears well up in her eyes. This time was no different. Amongst Carl's ramblings—"I'm so glad you're here, it's so good to see you"—they all were overcome with emotion and they laughed, cried, and hugged together.

"How'd you get out?" Rick asked.

A small smile crept up on Beth's face. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted.

"Was wonderin' what all the commotion was."

Daryl Dixon was panting; he must've run from another portion of the forest, drawn in by the noise. Despite how breathless he was, he wore a huge, childlike grin.

"Daryl," Michonne said. He walked up to her, laughing in her ear as he hugged her and pulled her close. He smelled like firewood. He'd remained as strong as she'd remembered him to be, and she felt an indescribable comfort, standing there in his arms.

And so, a group of three became a group of five.

Things were looking up.

* * *

"So, how'd you get out?"

Daryl was gnawing away at his rabbit bones, so Beth took it as her cue to talk. "I was runnin' around, lookin' for Maggie. We all got split up by Walkers. I think Daryl and I were to the last two to leave—we couldn' find anyone else. So we jus' ran, and we kept runnin' until we were a good few miles away from the prison."

Michonne looked over. Darly was savagely eating at the piece of meat, so reading his expression was difficult.

"What about you guys?" Beth asked.

"Carl an' I left together," Rick said. His eyes flitted in Michonne's direction. "Michonne found us a few days later."

"Followed a trail of pudding," she mused. She elbowed Carl. "This one has one hell of a sweet tooth."

Quiet laughter reverberated from the group. They were sitting around a campfire, with enough food to go around for all of them.

"I'm jus' glad we all found each other," Rick said. He looked over to Michonne, a small smile growing on his face. "We got so much stronger when Michonne joined us. Now that there's five of us, we really have a fighting chance of findin' the others."

Michonne returned Rick's smile. She brushed his forearm. After she pulled away, her eyes flitted to across the campfire, where Daryl was sitting.

His eyes were trained on hers.

* * *

"Where we headed, exactly?"

Daryl and Michonne trudged through the woods. Bright Georgia sun filtered through the canopy of trees, and illuminated their trails. They were light on their feet, and were careful to keep their voices down to a whisper.

"There's a Big Lot about a mile from here," Michonne said. She held the supply list in her hand. A razor for Rick, deodorant for Carl, and food and soap for everyone. "It's pretty picked over, but I think we should find everything."

He nodded. His eyes wandered throughout the woods—a typical hunter's trademark—as the two of them continued on.

"How's Beth doin'?" she asked.

Daryl sighed. "Was a wreck at firs'. Won' stop screamin' at night. But she's one tough girl, I'll give her that."

Michonne nodded. Hershel's death affected everyone, but she knew that it would've affected Beth the most. _Still,_ she mused. _She's alive. And we're all together now._

"How's Officer Friendly?" Daryl asked.

Michonne rolled her eyes. "Well, Rick Grimes will be Rick Grimes. Still overly concerned about his son. And as for Carl, the kid's tough as nails, now. But he's still a kid."

"Right." The two of them walk in silence for a minute. "I'm assuming he told you about Carol."

Michonne stopped in her tracks, and looked Daryl in the eye. "Yeah. He did. He told me you two talked about it, before the prison fell."

"He musta told you that I wasn' too happy, then," Daryl muttered.

"Daryl," she started, sternly. "I know you care about her. But I stand by what Rick did. We couldn' have her with us, not after what happened with Karen and David."

Daryl didn't say anything for a good moment. "Look at you, defending him and all. You two are sure as hell soft on each other."

She let out a laugh, and then jerked her head to the right. "Very funny. C'mon. We don' have all day."

They walked all of a few yards before Daryl spoke up again. "Is somethin' goin on there?"

Michonne felt some blood go to her cheeks. If it had been anyone other than Daryl asking, she would've sworn him out.

When she didn't say anything, he added, "You know, between you and Rick."

She turned around. "I can ask the same thing about you and Beth," she said, raising a brow.

"You're crazy."

She shrugged. "Same idea. Jus' because we ran away together doesn' mean somethin's goin' on."

He laughed. "Tha's different. She's a kid. And she's like my sister. But you an' Rick—he keeps making eyes at you." Daryl wagged a finger at her. "Looks like he's into you."

Michonne rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well if that's true, then it's jus' Stockholm Syndrome."

"Tha's what I'm sayin'."

She snickered. "Nothin's happenin' between us, Daryl. Since when do you care about my personal life?"

He smirked. He was about to open his mouth to reply, before his expression drastically changed. He wordlessly grabbed Michonne's arm, and pulled her back towards him. She turned around, looking to get a glance of what lay in front of them.

Off in the distance, she saw a horde of Walkers milling around the Big Lot.

"There mus' be thousands of em'," she whispered.

He looked around then, and then pointing to his left. "We'll have to go this way."

She shook her head. "They're between us and the Big Lot. There's no way we'll get there—"

"Sure we will. C'mon."

* * *

He'd made a serious miscalculation.

They'd gotten a good quarter mile before stumbling upon a smaller—yet much closer—group of Walkers. Thankfully, Michonne had Daryl flanked at her side. They took up the old routine they were used to; they stood back to back, each of them slashing (or in Daryl's case, shooting) in clockwise directions, taking out each Walker at a time. Even then, the crowd of dead continued to thicken around them.

"There's too many," Daryl hollered.

Michonne nodded. "We'll have to run."

He took out another Walker. "Back to the camp. That's our best bet."

She nodded, and took a step forward, severing the head of the Walker in front of her. She grabbed Daryl's arm, and the two of them took off in a sprint through the woods. Her legs pooled with lactic acid as they ran, and they didn't slow down until they finally reach a clearing.

They stood panting, for a second. And then, Michonne felt a hand grab her ankle.

She involuntarily let out a shriek. The Walker was buried beneath the dirt, and only its hand was visible. She watched as its entire head surfaced. It lunged forward, attempting to bite her ankle.

She tried to shake it off, but the thing pulled her down. She scrambled on the ground, reaching for Katana. Before she could, Daryl Dixon shot the Walker in the head, killing it.

She lay on the moist Earth, panting. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds, from when the Walker grabbed her to when Daryl killed it. Still, her heart raced.

He reached out an arm, and pulled her up. She took it, slightly woozy from the entire event, and brushed her pants off.

So they kept walking, trying to put it behind them. As they reached the edge of the clearing—back in the thicket of trees—she turned to Daryl.

"Thank you," she said.

He sighed. "Had me worried there, for a second."

"Yeah."

They were quiet for a minute. Their eyes remained locked onto each other's. Her Katana was gripped tightly in her hand, and his crossbow was in his. She knew that they should keep moving, circle back to the others, and head out later in the day. But instead, they stood alone in the woods, doing nothing except for staring each other in the eye.

She didn't know what the hell was going through Daryl's head. She knew what was going through hers, though.

_He just saved my life_. It wouldn't have been the first time. She'd saved his ass plenty of times, too.

He looked from her eyes to her lips.

And then they were kissing.

* * *

_But now I have finally seen the end_

_And I'm not expecting you to care_

_But I have finally seen the light_

_I have finally realized_

_I need to love_

_I need to love_

~**Madness **by Muse

* * *

**A/N: EHRMAGERD WHO'S EXCITED FOR WALKING DEAD TONIGHT? **

**Thank you so much for reading! I'd really appreciate it if you left a review :D**

**xx Nina**

**PS. If you don't know the song **_**Madness**_** by Muse, listen to it. RIGHT NOW.**


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